Trickery
by bluespace
Summary: Sequel to 'Time and Place' set after the ep. Shuttle Pod One. Feedback please! :)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, read my lips...k?  
  
Timeline: this is set a couple weeks after my story Time and Place and right after the ep. Shuttle pod one.  
  
A/N: I have a beta reader now, but I wanted to get this down and out there so fast I forgot to use her...sorry  
  
Maggie entered sickbay with a little more than slight trepidation. She had been on board Enterprise for going on three weeks now. It wasn't the frightening place she remembered waking up to. Now she had friends here. She wasn't an officer of course, but the Captain had given her a sort of honorary title. She was now Civilian Advisor to Engineering, she even had her own uniform, it was the same design only hers was gray. She felt like she belonged, and that was something she hadn't felt in awhile.  
  
That is why news of the incident on shuttle pod one had hit her so hard. These were people she had grown close to in the short period of time she had been onboard. Malcolm had been teaching her basic self-defense, she could even touch her toes now, and Trip had been nothing if not enthusiastic about her joining the engineering team. He spent hours filling her in on what the new drive matrix did, and why this coil was now connected to this inverter. It was the first time she had met someone as enthused about his job as she was.  
  
Then there was the possibility that they were dead, that had really hit home for her that they were in space. It was unforgiving and even more unpredictable.  
  
But they had survived. So now she could breath again and get back to learning the basics so she could advise with insight.  
  
The only problem was that Captain Archer couldn't get Trip to leave the sickbay. As far as Trip was concerned it was a well-disserved vacation. She suspected it had more to do with fear, just a little. She couldn't say as she blamed him, but she was also anxious to work on something other then the damaged ship components the other engineers had been throwing her way since the accident.  
  
So here she was in sickbay, her favorite place. Malcolm's bed was long empty; he was the definition of a work-a-holic. She approached Trip, who was lying with his hands behind his head, with a smile. Then she remembered her reason for being here and let her smile slip as if she just naturally lost hold of it under the strain.  
  
"Hey Maggie." Trip called as she approached. She waved half-heartedly.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up.  
  
`Well that's a start.' She thought. Out loud she said, "Oh I don't want to bother you with it. So how is the vacation going?" She once again plastered on a purposely-fake smile.  
  
"Oh no you don't. What's going on? Is it bad?" When she didn't answer immediately he continued on his own. "Its bad."  
  
"Well, certainly not unrepairable, just, well, yeah its bad."  
  
"So spill. What is it? I can handle it." He said this though with his head hung.  
  
"Well when that chunk was ripped from the hull," She saw him wince and smiled to herself, only an engineer would have that reaction. "See, it took quite a few components with it. I'm not familiar with that section yet, and they have just been give me menial jobs, but I'm fairly certain it had a drastic affect on the warp engines." He looked up at her startled.  
  
She nodded. "It's a miracle we got to you two in time. Haven't you noticed we've been at impulse since then." She wasn't even talking anywhere near the truth, but if there was one thing that would drag him out of sickbay, it was the engines of the Enterprise, or maybe pecan pie. They had been traveling at impulse though; of course she left out the part where they were investigating another asteroid field. You can't do that at warp.  
  
"How are they handling it?" he asked, hope in his voice.  
  
She dropped her gaze to the ground. "Not very well." It was all she could do to keep herself from laughing when he muttered `crap' under his breath and got off the biobed.  
  
He grabbed her by the arm as he made his way to the door. "Come on, let's show `em how its done."  
  
When they exited sickbay Archer was standing there with his arms crossed and a huge smile on his face. Trip let her go.  
  
"Well, well, look who decided to join us."  
  
"He's all yours." Maggie said, patting Trip on the back before she turned tail and fled.  
  
He grabbed for her with a "why you little", but missed and was left to deal with Archer alone.  
  
Maggie giggled as she turned in the lift to wave at them before the doors closed.  
  
Yep this was definitely feeling more and more like home.  
  
*With proper feedback, I may even write more. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: this story, the whole thing, is kind of a `life on the enterprise' kind of story. Not more story line then that. One may develop later on, but I doubt it. My next story in the series will have an in-depth, and I'm sure, very thought-provoking plot, but this one...not so much. It's just for fun. I mean really if you suddenly found yourself on enterprise wouldn't there be people you would just like to get to know without your life being in danger...thought so, so go with the flow, its better that way  
  
And now the story....  
  
"A long, long time ago, ok it was just last Tuesday, but go with me here. So anyways, where was I? Oh yeah.  
  
"A long, long time ago, as I sat lazily by a magnificent vista. All right, all right, so I was working like a dog, but is that really vital to the story? I think not. Ok, so `Lazily I sat,' and.... and...see now I lost my train of thought. I'm going to have to start all over now.  
  
"A long, long time ago, as I sat lazily by a magnificent vista, I was approached by a slick and tan...  
  
"Oh! It's no use you've completely depleted my creative juices and thrown me from my own train of thought. I hope your happy now."  
  
Porthos merely cocked his head at Maggie. Not a thrilling response.  
  
"Ok, so not your type of story. Let me try another one, ok...here it goes."  
  
Dog sitting was not as easy as she thought it would be. She kept feeling the need to keep him entertained, otherwise why not just leave him alone. She sighed deeply. Archer and Trip went down to the planet they were currently orbiting to gather some mineral samples for Dr. Phlox to research. They had been gone a day and a half already. She probably wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't volunteered, before they went, to be the dog sitter.  
  
Oh, who was she kidding, she still would have noticed, she would have to be dead not to. Course the history books showed that she was but that was beside the point.  
  
Porthos barked at her.  
  
"Sorry, story, right. I didn't forget. Ok, so this story is about a small farm in Idaho..."  
  
Jonathan Archer patted his best friend on the back as they exited the shuttle. "Not a bad ride, and we got to camp without hallucinating."  
  
"Always a plus." Trip murmured under his breath. He pulled his travel bag from the shuttle and they headed out of the bay.  
  
"Porthos would have loved it down there." Archer commented as they made their way to his ready room.  
  
"You and that dog, I don't know if I'll ever understand that. I don't think I've ever been that attached to anything."  
  
"Engineering to Commander Tucker." A voice said over the comm. Trip reached over to the nearest link and hit the button.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Sir, we hate to get you right after your back, but there's a disruption in the flow rate, I think you should take a look at."  
  
"No problem at all, I'll be there right after debriefing." He turned off the link.  
  
Archer was shaking his head.  
  
"What?" Trip asked, "Just needs me I guess."  
  
"You've never been attached to anything?" Archer said raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh, shut up."  
  
Archer just laughed and followed his friend.  
  
It was good to be back aboard. There was just something about flying in the fastest human ship the made you feel on top of everything. It was something you just couldn't experience planet side. You had to travel effortlessly among the stars to know for sure what you had been missing.  
  
The door opened at their approach.  
  
And there stood Maggie with her arm pointing toward a very enthused Porthos.  
  
"And he said, "Drop the udder and put you hands in the air."  
  
Porthos barked and jumped down from the bench, running full tilt toward his master.  
  
Maggie just stood there with her back to them a second more before she turned around very slowly, her hands at her sides.  
  
Trip was barely sustaining his composure, his shoulders shaking from the effort.  
  
"Drop the udder?" Archer asked as he bent down to pet his dog.  
  
"It..." she cleared her throat and smiled. "It was a story. He seemed bored."  
  
"Well it certainly seemed entertaining." Trip said. He had his hand in front of his face to keep her from seeing his smile.  
  
"Ok, well, your obviously back. He was fine the whole time... see ya."  
  
She went to move around them and leave and tripped on the dog. She would have gone headfirst in to the corner of the desk, which would have resulted in a trip to her oh so favorite place, but Trip reached out and grabbed her at the last second.  
  
"Thanks." She said quietly as she righted herself and walked out the door without looking back. She had a distinctly red color to her cheeks.  
  
To be continued...  
  
*More to come promise, I like this story line without a story line, you? 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Like I promised here's the more  
  
  
  
"So, did you miss me?"  
  
"I was with you remember." Trip said as he took a seat in the bench and watched his Captain go all gaga over a dog.  
  
Archer just looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I was talking to Porthos."  
  
"I know who you were talking to."  
  
Archer sighed. "So, what was that all about?" he asked his friend as he sat down behind the desk.  
  
"What was what all about?" Trip asked.  
  
"You know what I mean, with Maggie."  
  
Trip shrugged. "Looks like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I mean, being seen telling stories to a dog, can't be good for your self-esteem."  
  
"I don't think that was the whole problem." Archer said cryptically as he rearranged some data pads in front of him.  
  
"I know where this line of reasoning is going, and I want to say right now, for the record, that I don't like it."  
  
Archer put his hands in the air and said, "All right, all right, I'll drop it."  
  
"Good, so about this debriefing, can we hurry it up, I have an engine to take care of."  
  
  
  
Maggie rushed down the halls to her quarters. She didn't even see Hoshi until she plowed into her. The force of the blow almost sent them both sprawling; luckily they grabbed hold of each other and remained upright.  
  
"I'm so sorry, it's just not my day. I'm really sorry, are you ok?" Maggie was babbling before Hoshi's head had even cleared.  
  
"I'm fine. Really. Happens all the time." Hoshi said as she brushed off her top and looked up with a sincere smile on her face. When she saw Maggie's red eyes and disheveled appearance though, her smile disappeared. "Are you ok?" she asked with genuine concern.  
  
"I'm fine, just taking up my old habits again: embarrassment and isolation, they seen to be my best friends," Maggie said forlornly.  
  
"Ok that's a little harsh. What happened?" Hoshi asked conserned.  
  
Maggie sighed and put on a smile, "Its nothing really, I'm just over reacting. Its just one of those days, ya know. I got caught telling Porthos a rather amusing story."  
  
"Ah, one of those days. Don't worry about it; I'm sure the Captain didn't give it another thought. He's always talking to that dog, and can you blame him, he's so cute. Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't Trip, he never lets anything like that die." Hoshi stopped talking when Maggie's face fell again. "I just put my foot in my mouth, didn't I?" she said  
  
"No, its ok really. I tricked him earlier this week, and turn around is fair play. I can deal with hearing about this for a couple of days, its fine."  
  
"Ok, if you say so," Hoshi no longer seemed as supportive as she had. "I've got to be on the bridge for duty, I'll see ya around though ok?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll see ya around." Maggie turned to watch her friend get on a lift and then continued on her way to her quarters.  
  
  
  
Trip swore under his breath as another shock went straight to his toes. He had come down to Engineering to deal with a simple malfunction in the flow rate, and had discovered a short in one of the inverters. This was not a job he should have taken on without gloves. He licked his singed fingers and got right back to work though.  
  
All of a sudden, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Then, the next shock went through two bodies.  
  
Maggie suddenly found herself on the floor. That was definitely too big to be static. Ow, was about the only thought she could seem to form at the moment. As her vision cleared she saw Trip sitting up and shaking his head as if to loosen the cobwebs.  
  
Not a bad idea, if her world ever stopped rolling she would probably try that herself. May not be anytime soon though.  
  
"You ok?" she heard him ask.  
  
"I don't know, hand me a light bulb and we'll find out," she answered. When he just looked at her with a puzzled expression she shook her head, "Never mind, yeah, I'm fine." 


End file.
